I don't
often read children's fiction that isn't YA, but one look at the recently
published The Cats of Tanglewood Forest
was enough to convince me that this was a good idea. Yes, I judged the book by
its cover, and it worked out very well for me.

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest was written by the
renowned Charles de Lint and
illustrated by Charles Vess. Apparently, it's a
further exploration of a picture book they wrote and illustrated together a
decade ago, A Circle of Cats. I'm
glad they decided to expand it.

Not only
is The Cats of Tanglewood Forest beautifully
written and illustrated, the book itself is absolutely gorgeous. I wish I'd had
this book when I was little, but even as an adult it's still wonderful.

The story
is, on one level, whimsical, although I think that the idea that all cats are
magic explains more than it doesn't.

I love how
much agency Lillian had, that her
decisions defined her story and that she simply would not allow herself to be
fit into an easy categorization. If there is a moral of this story, it is to
consider our choices carefully, because actions have consequences: not good or
bad, necessarily, but that our choices shape our lives and our world. And I
think that's a wonderful message to send, but the book isn't that explicitly
didactic. Like the best children's fiction, there's a lot going under the
surface when you stop to look. Mostly you don't, though, because you're
distracted by other things, like a girl having an adventure and magical cats.